On August 9, Israeli soldiers lethally shot 20-year-old Anas Taha - this time claiming he stabbed a settler.

In late July, the Al-Haq human rights group said “Israel's indiscriminate,excessive, and unlawful use of force against Palestinian civilians persists in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).”

“Almost on a daily basis, Al-Haq documents Israel’s reckless and lethal use of force which has led to the killing and injury of countless Palestinians over the years.”

“Since the beginning of 2015, Israel has killed 21 Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Between 21 and 27 July alone, Israel shot and killed three Palestinians in the West Bank.”

Each death was willful, unprovoked assassination. Fabricated accusations claim otherwise. More Palestinians died in August - victims of Israeli ruthlessness.

As an occupying power, it’s legally bound to protect the lives and welfare of people it controls. International human rights law affirms the right to life.

A PLO report said at least two dozen Palestinians were killed and another 2,156 detained lawlessly by Israeli security forces this year.

In May, a Breaking the Silence Israeli soldier named Arieh said he was deployed last year to Gaza before hostilities began. He and others “speculated” war would follow.

His commander told them “to imagine a 200 meter radius and to immediately shoot anything moving inside this circle.”

“We bombed civilian targets for entertainment. One day at about 8AM, we went to Al-Bureij, a densely populated refugee camp in central Gaza, and the commander told us to select a random target and shoot it.”

“At the time, we did not see any Hamas fighters. No one shot at us, but the commander told us jokingly: ‘We have to send Bureij a morning greeting from the Israeli army.’ “

“I remember that one day, a soldier from our unit was killed and our commander asked us for revenge, so I drew the tank randomly towards a huge white residential building just four kilometres away from us and fired a shell at the 11th floor. I must have killed civilians who were absolutely innocent.”

“(O)ur goal was (to) create the largest possible damage to the agricultural land and the economy…The unit commander said “(i)f you see someone in front of the tank who does not immediately flee,” shoot to kill. Kill anyone in sight.

“We used shells excessively. When I saw anything moving, if an open window, I would shell it. If I saw a moving car, I would fire a rocket.”

“We fired missiles at moving objects and not individuals. We did not see moving individuals in our surroundings, but we fired anyway. I can confirm that we only saw civilians. We did not see any Hamas fighters.”

Dozens of other Breaking the Silence soldiers reported similar accounts. Palestinian lives don’t matter. Murdering them in cold blood is officially authorized.

Many others are injured - three dozen on average weekly throughout 2015, according to UN figures. Likely many more besides numerous daily arrests for the crime of being Palestinian.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.